How bald eagles came back from the brink to dominate Iowa’s skies

Ask anyone how long the bald eagle has been the official bird of the United States, and the answer is likely to be 200 years or more. In reality, the bald eagle has been the official bird for less than two years. 

In December 2024, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill designating the bald eagle as the country’s national bird, thanks in large part to a lobbying effort led by Minnesota eagle enthusiast Preston Cook. The honor came more than 240 years after a bald eagle landed in the center of the Great Seal of the United States. 

Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress, picked the bald eagle for the seal in July 1782. Thomson, who’d been charged with finalizing the design of the seal, modified a draft submitted by William Barton, a Pennsylvania lawyer and student of heraldry, who included a white eagle among other symbols to evoke strength.

Thomson changed the white eagle into a bald eagle, which are native to North America, and centered the bird in the design. Congress approved. (Benjamin Franklin, who considered bald eagles “a Bird of bad moral Character” under the mistaken belief they are primarily scavengers, was in France at the time.) More than 200 years of eagley Americana followed, including the Iowa state flag design by Dixie May Cornell that was adopted in 1921. 

By then, bald eagle numbers were already in decline. In the mid-20th century, Haliaeetus leucocephalus had become nearly as rare a sight as the beleaguered bison. (Like bison, bald eagles were and are revered by many Native American tribes, believed to convene directly with the Great Spirit. Eagle feathers are worn by dancers, used in healing ceremonies and bestowed upon a major achievement, such as a graduation. The intentional killing of eagles was a rare occurrence and left for highly specialized hunters.)

It’s only because of public information campaigns paired with state and federal regulations that Iowans today can enjoy watching convocations of eagles near their rivers, lakes and streams. It’s a hard-won comeback that conservationists fought for, in spite of strong opposition from billion-dollar companies and the ever-present problem of slow, stubborn bureaucracies.

The bald eagle’s gradual decline due to lost nesting habitats and sport hunting began to accelerate at the end of the 19th century when the federal government, believing the birds to be a threat to livestock (wrong) and competition for fishermen (less wrong), placed bounties on bald eagles in the Alaska territory. Numbers dropped, and experts began to openly speculate whether the bald eagle would go extinct.

In 1940, Congress introduced the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, protecting the birds and their eggs, nests and feathers, under penalty of serious fines and potential prison time. (Special permits were granted to Native American communities for whom eagle feathers bear great spiritual and cultural value.) Even with prohibitions on killing, sale and ownership, bald eagles continued to die off rapidly. When the Great Seal was adopted in 1782, it’s estimated there were between 25,000 and 75,000 bald eagles nesting in the continental U.S. By 1963, there were 834.

A primary culprit for that massive decline was highlighted by Rachel Carson in her seminal 1962 book Silent Spring, which helped kickstart the modern conservation movement. In it, Carson describes the devastating effects of DDT, a pesticide developed in the 1940s and first used by soldiers in WWII, on humans and ecosystems. For decades, DDT was sprayed from airplanes and packaged in products to fight pests and prevent insect-borne illness.

In birds, exposure to DDT can cause a thinning of egg shells, which decimated peregrine falcon, California condor, osprey, pelican and bald eagle populations across the continent. Meanwhile, insects were growing resistant to the chemical.

Despite the best efforts of DDT manufacturers like DuPont and Velsicol, Silent Spring changed hearts and minds. The subsequent wave of support for American environmental protections led directly to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970. 

Only three years after its founding, the EPA introduced the Endangered Species Act and included bald eagles on its protected species list. This bill, in tandem with the EPA’s ban on commercial DDT use in 1972, laid the groundwork for bald eagle populations to recover, one egg at a time.

Decades passed, and the results were nothing short of exceptional. The raptors didn’t just rebound — their numbers exploded. With healthier food supplies and greater protections, nesting pairs rose well into the thousands, then tens of thousands, before the EPA was able to remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list in 2007. The most recent data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that, by 2020, the total population of bald eagles stood at 316,700, with 71,400 nesting pairs.

Of that 71,400, roughly 400 nesting pairs live in the state of Iowa. 

Along with the ban on DDT, the Endangered Species Act gave states the ability to use resources as they saw fit to aid bald eagle populations. 

“Iowa protected eagles from disturbance and persecution, mobilized citizens and the Iowa DNR to survey and protect nests, and celebrated bald eagles as they came back,” Amy Ries, a naturalist at the Raptor Resource Project, told Little Village.

Since their return, bald eagles have made their mark on Iowa’s ecosystems. Along with fish, bald eagles eat carcasses, keeping the state clean and reducing disease spread. In winter, their own scraps feed less capable hunters. Like any apex predator, they keep local prey populations healthy and skittish. They literally change the landscape, nesting in the same spot year after year until the sticks stack a story high.

“They reshape trees as they harvest sticks for nesting, perching and sightlines; leave behind scraps and carcasses that other animals feed on; alter the behavior of prey animals; and build large stick nests that shelter and provide nesting materials for small birds, mice and squirrels,” Ries explained.

While DDT may have been the arch nemesis, bald eagles face other threats — especially in Iowa. “Habitat loss, high fertilizer use and high pesticide use are causing huge problems for many species of birds,” Ries said. High nitrate levels in crucial waterways sicken fish, eagles and humans alike. 

Irresponsible hunting and fishing practices also pose major issues for bald eagles. In particular, the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has banned hunting with lead ammo against waterfowl and turkeys since 1991, but many states, including Iowa, still allow it for deer hunting. Eagles are often exposed to lead by eating contaminated fish and deer carcasses.

The American Eagle Foundation reports that samples taken across 38 states between 2014 and 2022 showed 47 percent of bald eagles displayed symptoms of chronic lead exposure, and upwards of 35 percent had experienced acute lead poisoning. 

“A lead fragment the size of a grain of rice is lethal to a mature bald eagle,” the foundation notes, “meaning that a standard 150 grain lead bullet can poison 10 eagles.” 

In February, the Des Moines Register reported that Iowa Bird Rehabilitation staff had rescued three bald eagles, all of whom were suffering from lead poisoning, within hours of each other. One died later that night. Last year, Hatchery Mom, a star of Decorah’s world famous eagle nest cams (operated by the local nonprofit Raptor Resource Project), died of lead poisoning.

As our national and state symbol, we owe bald eagles and their habitats our protection. Fortunately, there are clear and actionable steps that both lawmakers and citizens can make to prevent a second eagle decline, many of which are mutually beneficial to us.

A key first step is regulation to prevent the diffusion of nitrates into natural bodies of water, according to Ries. “Agricultural states like Iowa need to stop shielding agricultural polluters and absentee farming corporations and force change for the sake of all its citizens, bald eagles and humans alike,” she said. “Pollutants are bad for children and other living things.” 

Another step is for hunters and fishers to stick to nontoxic ammo and fishing tackle.

Lastly, citizens can connect with local county conservation boards to express their concerns and learn more about how to support nearby ecosystems. Just as the creation of the EPA took a multi-year movement, effective conservation stems from long-term, community-level action. 

“Working together is more powerful than worrying alone,” Ries said, “even when conservation gains come slowly.”  

This article was originally published in Little Village’s May 2026 issue.